10 posts from March 2011

03/31/2011

In documentary terms, it was a real moment when Yale student Timeica Bethel saw the room of her childhood in the LeClaire Courts housing project. A demolition contractor allowed her to step past the hanging plastic they put up before tearing down the insides. Another week later and a pile of rubble would have been all that remained. She then showed her mother and grandmother what she had retrieved. It was a treat to be there, watching her relive childhood experiences.

Like most of us, she was drawn back to her roots, to process, explain, connect and to feel. With outstanding academic achievement in 8th grade, she advanced further than she had ever dreamed, to the Ivy leagues of the East Coast. Now, on the cusp of graduation, she has taken a job with Teach for America on the West Side of Chicago to give hope to other students from poverty that big change is, indeed, possible. In her words, "I want to be the one to say, 'You think Yale is impossible, but it's not..." At at time when the last of the Cabrini-Green buildings are coming down as well, she leaves an inspiring message for all those who grow up in public housing.

03/29/2011

As a follow-up to a post on the things photojournalists don't like to hear on assignment, I decided to leave this topic on a positive note with the following list of items photojournalists love to hear. This is all in my humble opinion, of course...

03/25/2011

The story of Dan Young lingers in my mind. The memory of meeting him in prison was stirred when Illinois recently banned the death penalty. A main reason for the ban was the number of people let go and declared innocent. Although he was not on death row, Dan Young was like many others who were later released. He served twelve years in prison for a rape and murder that DNA evidence show he didn't commit.

I worked on a number of these stories with Steve Mills and Maurice Possley, who led the paper for several years through the winding and heart-wrenching stories of people caught up in our legal system. When you hear of people released, you hope the best for them. You hope they can reconnect with loved ones and finally have a normal life. To people who knew him, Young talked often about what he would do with his new life.

Within a year after being released, Dan Young's second chance at life was cut short when he was run over by a hit-and-run driver. A terrible double injustice. Getting our justice system right is all I can hope for when I think about what happened to him.

03/22/2011

Watching revolutions happen in the Middle East, there might be a temptation to think that real and sustained change might be taking place. Certainly the power of photography and social media is helping to fuel political movements. But what of the reconstruction and renewal of political, economic and cultural structures after these countries leave the public eye?

The French Iranian-born photographer Reza Deghati has a unique, insightful, and I would offer necessary view of these developments, having founded Aina 10 years ago, an organization dedicated to the "emergence of civil society through actions in the area of education, information and communication. I knew very little about Aina (translated literally as "the mirror") before the interview. The organization promotes independent media development and cultural expression as a foundation of democracy." Because of his success, he currently has plans to turn it into a larger international organization.

He was in the Chicago area recently giving a lecture at Northeastern Illinois University on the topic of social change and photography. I was able to reach him to share his thoughts about social change, revolutions and the power of the still image. I found his personal story of imprisonment and awakening to the power of photography, toward the end of the interview, to be fascinating.

To think it all started with the auction of his Leica and some prints...

03/15/2011

Was this picture at a firefighter funeral absolutely necessary? Is camouflage proper attire? Just askin'...

Twenty years ago, I was stiff-armed by a mover-and-shaker in the entertainment world. I was a photographer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, and my assignment was to photograph a celebrity in Los Angeles. I hadn't been informed that he was having a rough time with our paper's critic and that the assignment was a possible no-go.

When I showed up to the location, I realized it was a bookstore. I was confused. How and why was I making a meaningful portrait of a celebrity at a bookstore? I met the subject, who told me that I was welcome to take pictures of him, while he shopped.

It was a power move. He didn't need us, and didn't care what the picture looked like. I was young and didn't understand the politics going on. So I followed him around, taking pictures as he read books from a shelf. I was treated, and felt, like a paparazzi nuisance.

Not long ago, I had an assignment to photograph him again. His career had come a long way, but as always, he needed favorable coverage -- especially from a Chicago paper with a large circulation. He came up to me, and we exchanged pleasantries. I didn't hesitate to share that we had once met a long time ago. "Remember me....?"

03/12/2011

During or after a day of heavy news, sometimes I need the relief of eye candy. When not getting distracted by the shiny baubles caused by reflections from glass buildings, I'll let lines lead the way. Whether it's the State of Illinois building at top, a glass elevator at center, or the underside of the Lake Street train tracks, lines will lead my attention down a different or long path. I guess it becomes a photographic response to the phrase, "taking the long view".

03/08/2011

What might this officer be saying to the photojournalist..? Policemen arrest an AFP photographer during clashes between police and protestors who were demanding the resignation of Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, in Zagreb on February 26, 2011. (PIXSELL/AFP/Getty Images)

As with most professions, there are certain phrases you hear on the job that are idiosyncratic to what you do. In photojournalism, it doesn't seem to matter the size of the newspaper, the community, or nation you find yourself in, certain phrases keep cropping up. Some are very positive, such as "I'll bet you meet some interesting people" or "You seem to have a fun job", both said by members of the general public. Other phrases - not so much. They can actually make you cringe, explain or object. But for longevity's sake, you have a sense of humor about them. Over time, I've assembled a personal list of the phrases photojournalists don't like to hear, but have come to expect.

03/04/2011

John Pietraszek loved to care for cats. He had also been something of an amateur photographer. He made his living as a darkroom technician at a large commercial photo lab in the Loop. Chances are if you dropped off your film at a lab in the past few decades, he may have supervised the processing. But he was reclusive, and this trait likely contributed to his death. None of his neighbors knew that his heat had been shut off for years, and no one knew that he lived this way. His body was found, decomposed, in an upstairs hallway on a winter day.

Personally, I have some reluctance about working on stories that reveal the messy interior of people's lives. I suspect most people would not like their secrets broadcast to hundreds of thousands after they die. His death, and the implications of it for how we care for our elderly, makes it more newsworthy in this case. I suspect there was some hand-wringing in the neighborhood about the fact that his body wasn't discovered for weeks.

The cats didn't fare well either. Despite the fact that the friend above tried to care for them, the house reeked of urine and feces. I really hope that showing such pictures and telling his story motivates the compassion of readers going forward.

03/01/2011

A woman cries in Tahrir Square after it is announced that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was giving up power February 11, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

On April 20, 2011, photographers Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington gave their lives in the service of photojournalism while photographing the uprising in Libya. Two other photographers, Guy Martin and Michael Christopher Brown were injured by the same blast, Martin severely. Words can not express the deep sense of shock and sadness that I and others in the photo community receive this terrible news. They put their lives at risk so that others could see. By all accounts, Chris and Tim were wonderful human beings and incredibly talented photojournalists who cared about the plight of communities throughout the world. Their compassion showed through their work. I especially grieve the loss of Chris, who I was able to reconnect with recently through the interview below. They will both be greatly missed. The Tribune has put together a gallery of Hondros' last pictures that were sent hours before the news of his death was reported.

Twenty years ago, I was in the Eddie Adams Workshop, on the same team as quietly confident Chris Hondros. Even back then, in the middle of rural New York, he was the kind of photographer who came back with dramatic photos from the field. I still remember the sense of awe as I saw one of his pictures - a quiet and compelling image of a veterinarian, presiding over a horse on its deathbed. Fast forward decades later, the Getty Images photojournalist is still coming back with dramatic images. He has become an accomplished war photographer and recipient of the prestigious Robert Capa Gold Medal. His images consistently appear on the front pages of newspapers around the world, making him one of the foremost visual storytellers of our time. He recently returned to the U.S. after covering the Egyptian revolution, a watershed moment in the Middle East. I caught up with him and he agreed to a brief "10 Questions" interview format about his experience: